Palestine

ARTICLES ABOUT PALESTINE BY DATE - PAGE 3

WASHINGTON - President Bush has made it clear that the future of humanity lies with freedom and democracy. By their free and clean election in January, the Palestinian people have created their democracy. Now they must have their freedom. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas courageously has staked his political future on achieving freedom and statehood for his people through peaceful negotiations. To succeed, he needs the support of all responsible parties. He has taken many bold and decisive steps to restructure the Palestinian Authority and rebuild a disciplined and accountable security system.

Louis S. "Shorty" Levin said later that he sensed something odd when his shipwrecking company sold that rundown troop carrier shortly after World War II. He and his older brother, George, sold scrap metal in Charles County, but the men in New York interested in this particular ship talked about carrying passengers, as the ship had before the war when it steamed the Old Bay Line route from Baltimore to Norfolk, Va. Indeed the deal turned out quite unlike...

I AM AT AN AGE when birthdays are not cause for celebration, but this one certainly is: Sesame Street is 35 years old. The children's television program that changed that genre for the good -- and forever -- will launch its 35th season with a prime-time special starring Elmo, the world's favorite toddler. Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On will be broadcast on public television stations at 8 p.m. next Sunday. That's bedtime for many of Elmo's most faithful fans. But the good news is, the show will be broadcast Monday morning at Sesame Street's regular time as the first episode of the new season.

On August 11, 2003, SYLVESTER G.; devoted son of Palestine Johnson. He is also survived by a host of other relatives and friends. Friends may call at the Betts Funeral Home, 1129 N. Caroline Street, on Monday, 1 to 7 P.M. Funeral Services for Mr. Johnson will be held on Tuesday, at the above Chapel, where family will receive friends from 10:30 to 11 A.M., followed by funeral services. Interment Garrison Forest VA Cemetery.

By John Daniszewski and John Daniszewski,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | April 4, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Everybody in the room at the Palestine Hotel knew that U.S. forces had arrived on the outskirts of Baghdad. In fact, they were about to seize Saddam International Airport. Information Minister Mohammed Said Sahaf, in his crisp, olive green uniform and black beret, was having none of it. "They are not even 100 miles" away, he proclaimed at his news briefing yesterday. "They are not near Baghdad. Don't believe them." He portrayed the Americans as being on the run across Iraq, mired in "traps" laid by loyal troops and paramilitary fighters.

By Marego Athans and Marego Athans,SUN NATIONAL STAFF | March 26, 2003

PALESTINE, W.Va. - Anything her older brother could do, she could do, too. Baseball. Basketball. Childhood adventures through the hilly green cattle farms and hollows of Appalachia. No matter that she was barely 5 feet 4 and 105 pounds. On July 19, 2001, the spunky little blond girl, as Jessica Lynch is known here, joined the Army, enlisting the very same day as her brother, Greg. Yesterday, Pfc. Greg Lynch Jr., 21, stood on the wraparound porch of the family's white-and-red gingerbread-style farmhouse and pointed to a newspaper lying on his mother's truck.

IN THE END, all it took to kill international terrorist Abu Nidal was a bullet in the mouth. And he apparently died by his own hand. Even in death, he confounds. Notorious for a series of spectacular and stunning hijackings and attacks he masterminded in the 1970s and 1980s, feared for his ruthless allegiance to the cause of a free Palestine, Abu Nidal eluded capture throughout his infamous career. Born Sabri al-Banna in British-mandate Palestine, he chose the nom de guerre "father of the struggle" as a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

WASHINGTON - President Bush called on the Palestinian people yesterday to replace Yasser Arafat as leader, promising that if they elect a new government, enact democratic reforms and crush anti-Israel terrorist groups, the United States would quickly recognize a "provisional" Palestinian state. In a widely anticipated speech that outlined his Middle East peace plan, Bush for the first time explicitly declared that the current Palestinian leadership is too tainted by terror and corruption to run a state or negotiate a final settlement with Israel.

By Russell Working and Russell Working,SPECIAL TO THE SUN | May 22, 2002

LARNACA, Cyprus - In Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, they were surrounded by Israeli snipers and armor, and holed up in a compound with overflowing toilets and rotting corpses in the basement. Now 13 Palestinian gunmen find themselves in the three-star Flamingo Hotel, across from a beach where Scandinavian tourists sunbathe topless and down the street from hungry crowds in the Salt Lake City fish tavern. The temporary home might seem like a shock for militants expelled from the West Bank in an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

THE SUICIDE NOTE from the 14-year-old implored his mother to be happy for him. It spoke neither of sadness nor pain, but of the gift he had to give: "I am giving my soul for the sake of God and the homeland." The cult of martyrdom in the Palestinian territories claimed its youngest members last week: 14-year-old Youssef Zaqout of Gaza City and his two childhood friends, Ismail Abu Nadi and Anwar Hamdouna, both 15. The teens, armed with homemade pipe bombs, an ax and knives, headed out one night to attack a Jewish settlement.